King Prawn Pad Thai

I harp on alot about my love of Asian cuisine, particularly Thai. Before my husband and I opened our cocktail bar I worked in a local pub, The Grotto in Weybridge, Surrey which had a dining room serving up authentic Thai food. I loved working in the small restaurant part of the pub and learnt alot about food preparation there.

Toy, the Thai chef managed the kitchen virtually single handedly. Of course she had no method in managing the fast orders coming through (for takeaways as well as diners).  She did each ticket in turn, but everything she cooked was always incredible. I'd watch her hand rolling the vegetable spring rolls, preparing fresh satay sauces and stirring the Massaman curry whilst it stewed away. My love for Thai food really came from working here. She'd often send me off home with a garlic chilli squid stir fry or if I was lucky, my favourite: Pad Thai. I don't think I can ever hope to re-create Toy's amazing Pad Thai (and I'm certain I wouldn't want to ProPoint it!), but Pad Thai is still my dish of choice when I go to a Thai restaurant. I've tried for the last few years to cook a really tasty Pad Thai that is WeightWatcher friendly and delighted to have finally achieved it with this recipe!

Earlier this year I re-visited a newly refurbished Grotto as the new owner had managed to lure Toy back into the kitchen. The menu was just the same as it ever was and amazingly Toy remembered me from my stint there in 2002! I only worked there for a short time but she knew I went on to more glamourous things when we opened our cocktail bar down the road.  I've sadly heard that The Grotto has once again re-closed. I do hope someone snaps it up and gets Toy back in the kitchen as Weybridge will not be the same without her delicious Thai food.

You'll need for 2:

• 1 tsp groundnut oil or vegetable oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed or grated
• 175g raw king prawns
• 1 medium egg, beaten
• 25g roasted, salted peanuts, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• Asian vegetables of your choice, sliced to your liking
• Couple of big handfuls of beansprouts
• 3-4 spring onions, sliced
• 1 tsp soft brown sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 lime, juiced
• 125g rice noodles, soaked in hot water then drained
• Fresh coriander leaves

What to do:

Firstly get the kettle boiling and put the rice noodles into a shallow dish. I use the Pad Thai thick style noodles which are available in Waitrose. Please do not buy the 'straight to wok' rice noodles as these are just horrible and will ruin what is a most fabulous supper! Pour the boiling water and leave to soak for 15 minutes while you prep the other ingredients.

Get everything chopped up and ready and have all the sauces and condiments to hand as the dish doesn't take long to stir fry.  Beat the egg in a bowl with a dash of light soy sauce for seasoning.

When the noodles have finished soaking, drain until needed.

In a wok, heat the oil and when hot add the prawns and garlic. As soon as the prawns are pink all the way through remove with a slotted spoon, keeping as much of the juice in the wok as possible.  Add the vegetables and stir fry on high heat for a minute or two. Quickly add the chilli flakes, fish sauce, soy sauce, lime juice, sugar and peanuts stirring frequently.  

After a couple of minutes of stir frying, add the prawns back in and any juices along with the noodles.  Add the beaten egg and stir everything for another minute or two until the noodles are nicely coated.

Serve up and sprinkle with fresh coriander.

WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 12

Honey, Soy & Ginger Chicken with Stir Fried Rice & Veg

I look forward to my evening meal all day.  I was already thinking about tomorrow's meal as soon as this evenings' was over!  The thing is with WeightWatchers or any other 'diet' recipes is that they don't always meet my requirements for healthy but tasty evening meal:

• Fat friendly
• Filling
• Flavoursome

I have a huge collection of cookery books and I constantly browse the web looking for new ideas.  I've learnt to adapt standard and diet recipes to meet my requirements so I thought I would share a few tips on adapting recipes. 

1.  Ditch the low fat, calorie controlled cooking spray.  It tastes disgusting and you get the same low fat effect by using pure olive oil (or whatever your choice of oil may be) via a spray or by using 1 teaspoon oil (1 PP) between 2 people. 
2.  Really consider the carb element of the meal.  Seriously how can anyone be satisfied on 50g of potatoes?  Adapt it to a more sensible amount that will be filling and fat friendly.
3.  Go for fish and white meat where possible  I restrict red meat to once a week and then it has to be very tightly portion controlled and I have to heavily compromise on the carb element to ensure I stay within my ProPoint budget.
4.  Big up on PP free flavours!  Use more garlic, ginger, chilli, herbs & spices, lemon etc etc to your liking making your meal really tasty and flavoursome.

I decided last week to purchase the latest WeightWatchers cookbook 'Simply Enjoy'.  I am pleasantly surprised there are a number of recipes I would like to try, obviously with my own twist. The first of which I tried this evening and I have to admit I really enjoyed it!  The original recipe in the book is for Honey & Ginger Scallops and I used the marinade as a base for my chicken skewers.

You'll need for 2:

• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tsp lazy ginger, finely chopped
• pinch of chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp groundnut oil (or any other flavourless oil)
• 300g chicken breast cut into chunks
• 125g dried basmati brown rice
• Lots of chopped Asian vegetables. I used: mushrooms, pak choi, baby corn, sugar snap peas
• Light soy sauce

What to do:
Mix the first 7 ingredients together in a shallow dish or a plastic container. Cover the chicken and refridgerate for at least an hour, preferably 2-3 hours. 

Cook and cool the rice according to the packet instructions.  These first 2 steps can be prepared in advance.

Chop all the vegetables and skewer the chicken.  When ready, skewer and BBQ until cooked through.  You can also grill for a few minutes until cooked through. 

Heat 1 tsp oil in a wok or frying pan and when hot stir fry the vegetables on a high heat turning frequently.  Allow to cook through and then add the remaining marinade and allow to bubble away for a few seconds.  Add the cooled, cooked rice and keep stirring.  Add some light soy sauce to season.  Once the rice is fully heated through serve onto plates and top with the chicken skewer.

WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 12